Alternative bedding such as the sleeping bag and creative bed coverings have taken many forms. Numerous U.S. Patents for alternative bedding with a clearly defined pocket for an infant or child were issued in the late twenties and early thirties. Representative patents are:
______________________________________ Young 1,735,521 Schmidt 1,802,540 Eaker 1,859,820 Smith 1,885,558 Echlin 2,037,216 ______________________________________
The acceptability of many of these designs were low due to the hazards associated with zippers near the portion of the bed or crib cover where a child's face and neck was to be. In addition to the unsafe position of a zipper, many of these covers provide confining, enclosed spaces with openings from which a child's head emerges from. Particularly disturbing about many of these designs is that the opening for the head of a child is designed to fit snuggly around the neck of the child. This type of bedding dangerously restrains a napping child whether it was intended to or not.
Creative bedding in the form of design blankets and design sleeping bags are very common with the blanket type represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 83,754 and Des. 160,596. The design sleeping bag seen most often specifically for use by children is represented by U.S. Pat. No. Des. 249,437. Although the existence of the design blanket and design sleeping bag is well established, the combination of the two in a safe, nonrestrictive form with an undisturbed design when occupied, has not been invented until now. A major problem with prior art pouches that are incorporated into a bed spread design is the inability to effectively integrate the pouch into any pattern. In my early attempts to produce such a bed cover or spread I encountered disruption of the pattern in the area of the pouch. The reason for the delay in development of such a bed cover was that a process to create a design that is not distorted during expansion was not in existence until now. To pleat the fabric used for a bedspread is not effective to allow expansion of the pouch and at the same time maintenance of the design on the spread. The invention of this application involves both a bed cover with a pouch for a child and the process to create a non-distorted design on the bed cover during expansion.
By employing my invention, a fun scene is created which is attractive whether occupied or not and the presence of the pouch does not detract from the scene. When the child is present in the pouch, he is visually assimilated into the scene from his own observation and that of others adding realism and providing a visually pleasant scene and an effective sleep covering for the child both physically and psychologically.